Oral microbiota in oropharyngeal cancers: Friend or foe?

Riccardo Nocini; Lorenzo Lo Muzio; Davide Gibellini; Giovanni Malerba; Michele Milella; Salvatore Chirumbolo; Nicoletta Zerman

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.948068

Oral microbiota in oropharyngeal cancers: Friend or foe?

Front Oncol. 2022 Sep 13:12:948068. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.948068. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Riccardo Nocini¹, Lorenzo Lo Muzio², Davide Gibellini³, Giovanni Malerba⁴, Michele Milella⁵, Salvatore Chirumbolo⁴, Nicoletta Zerman¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
² Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
³ Department of Diagnostic and Public Health, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁴ Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
⁵ Department of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.

Abstract

Oral microbiome is a complex population of micro-organisms, which by cross-talking with the local immune system, plays a major role in the immune homeostasis of the oral cavity, further contributing in the physiology of the gastro-intestinal microbiota. Understanding their involvement in the onset and pathogenesis of oropharyngeal cancers is paramount, despite very few reports deal with the fundamental role exerted by oral microbiota disorders, such as dysbiosis and impairment in the oral microbiome composition as causative factors in the development of oropharyngeal tumors. Current research, via metabolomic or meta-transcriptomic analyses, is wondering how this complex microbial population regulates the immune homeostasis in oral and pharyngeal mucosa and whether changes in bacterial composition may give insights on the role of oral microbiome in the development of oropharyngeal tumors, so to prevent their occurrence.

Keywords: 16sRNA; oral cancer; oral immunity; oral microbiome dysbiosis; oropharyngeal cancer (OPSCC).